"And when they ask us what we're doing, you can say, We're remembering...." (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)

Friday, March 30, 2007

GL CLASSIC MOMENT #63

Nola Reardon (Lisa Brown) started off life in Springfield as a teen-age busybody living in her mother's boarding house. Sure, her snooping helped discover that Roger Thorpe was alive and well and pretending to be an old, German professor while plotting to kidnap his toddler daughter, Chrissie (a.k.a. Blake) from her mother, Holly. But, really, did Bea Reardon's boarders need her kid going through their things on a regular basis?

Nola soon moved on from snooping to social climbing. She decided that Dr. Kelly Nelson would be her ticket out of working class life and resolved to win his affections. Who cared that Kelly was smitten with innocent Morgan Richards? Kelly wouldn't be able to ignore the mother of his child, would he?

What a shame Kelly refused to sleep with Nola. Which made the whole getting pregnant in order to trap him into marriage plot a touch more challenging.

But Nola wasn't one to give up easily. Several times, she plied Kelly with alcohol, got him into bed and convinced him they'd had sex. However, since they didn't actually have sex, a pregnancy still proved problematic.

To that end, Nola slept with good-guy Floyd, who'd always had a thing for her, finally got pregnant and passed the baby off as Kelly's.

Nola and Kelly got as far as planning to leave town and get married, before Kelly found out the truth, blasted Nola and dumped her.

Alone (she refused to marry Floyd, even though he offered) and pregnant, Nola got a job working for the mysterious Quint McCord (Michael Tylo). For a girl reared on classic, old movies (Jane Ayre being not the least of them), life in Quint's Gothic mansion proved to be a dream come true for Nola -- literally. She was constantly imagining herself as the heroine in yet another black and white film with Quint, naturally, as the hero.

After the birth of her daughter, Nola went back to her snooping ways, digging up all sorts of secrets Quint would have preferred to stay hidden.

After many adventures connected to Quint's archaeological career (it was the early 1980s and Harrison Ford had just donned his trademark fedora and whip), Quint and Nola fell in love.

They married in June of 1983 and, after the ceremony, Quint surprised his new bride with a hot-air balloon meant to whisk them towards their new life together.

Three actors from long-running CBS soap "The Guiding Light " will visit Norfolk this weekend to nail, hammer, dig, saw, paint, plant and do whatever else is asked of them at Haven House, an Ocean View homeless shelter that's been undergoing major repairs. John Driscoll, Nicole Forester and Frank Dicopoulos are scheduled to arrive today in Hampton Roads and begin work Saturday at the shelter, 131 D View Ave.

Alison (Marnie Schulenburg) comes home to Oakdale in April. Wonder how mom Susan (Marie Masters) and sister/mom Emily (Kelley Menighan Hensley) will react once they get the full story of what their little girl was up to in L.A?

While American soap operas, as a rule, primarily impart lessons about conspicuous consumption, bigger-is-better hairstyles, and the potential danger of accidentally falling in love with your cousin/half-sibling, in India, the government is attempting to use soaps to cut down on the number of farmer suicides...

What if Springfield turned upside down for the day? What if, in Bizarro Springfield, Buzz Cooper was the mega-rich tycoon and Alan Spaulding a foul-mouthed fry cook? What if Tammy was a motorcycle slut and Lizzie a good-girl nurse? Marina a spoiled princess and Dinah a community do-gooder?

Guiding Light broadcast its first, full color half hour episode on Monday, March 13, 1967. (It had experimented with a single, color episode back in 1953, but the show turned out to be a bit different from what CBS had in mind. The network chose their crown jewel, GL, to be the very first daytime drama ever shown in color. But creator Irna Phillips, who ruled with an iron fist and absolutely hated to be told what to do or to lose control of her product, wrote an entire episode to take place in a hospital room full of white walls, white sheets and white uniforms. CBS wasn't amused. Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life went on to air periodic color episodes, but GL wouldn't make the transition for another 14 years!)

The Homestead native, CMU '81, is a well-established actor on stage ("Oh, Kay!" and "Julius Caesar" on Broadway) and especially on TV, where she's played attorney Jessica Griffin on "As the World Turns" since 1987 and medical examiner Melinda Warner in more than 100 episodes of "Law & Order: SVU." But she's in town now as a producer -- the only active African-American producer on Broadway.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

EARLY MOTHER'S DAY

Mother's Day may not be for another six weeks, but these pictures were too cute not to share.

Lucinda (Elizabeth Hubbard) and Lily (Martha Byrne) just as Lily was entering her troublesome teen years (left), and Lucinda and Lily with Lily's daughter, Faith (Ashley Marie Greiner), today -- just as Faith prepares to do the same.

Do you think Lily will finally forgive Lucinda for all of her alleged mothering mistakes (including loving her daughter too much, spoiling her by buying her too much stuff, and wanting to keep her from throwing her life away on a monosyllabic stable boy), now that Lily is about to get a taste of her own medicine?

But marriage to upstanding Ross was supposed to cure Blake of her bad habits.

So how come, when she spied Ross kissing his old flame, Amanda (why do people always flee at first sight of the kiss? Why don't they ever stick around to see what happens next? In Ross and Amanda's case, he sent her on her merry way), did Blake head straight for the nearest bar, then the nearest man -- who happened to be Rick Bauer (for the genealogically inclined, her one time presumed half-brother).

As if cheating on Ross wasn't bad enough, Blake soon found herself pregnant. Like all soap heroines, she wondered who the father was, Ross or Rick? But, in Blake's case, the answer wasn't nearly so simple...

(Loken's) first job came when, as a teenager, she played Meg Ryan's daughter on "As the World Turns." Ryan was no longer on the show but Loken played her "speed age" daughter. "Then I had an audition for a job in New York that was going to be filming in L.A. and went to L.A. to audition for the job and ended up moving to L.A."

Danny (Paul Anthony Stewart) and Michelle (JoieLenz) knew they were destined to be together.

Sure, their first marriage was one of convenience -- Michelle had accidentally killed Danny's brother, Mick, and his Mafia Mama, Carmen, wanted revenge. Danny married Michelle to protect her. He secretly loved his new bride. She still longed for her old flame, Jesse.

Their second wedding was a religious ceremony, staged to convinced Carmen that the first had been genuine.

Wanting out, Michelle worked with the FBI to bring down the Santoses and return to Jesse. Carmen suspected as much and forced Danny to try and trap his wife into revealing her agenda. Danny thought Michelle had betrayed him, then learned that Carmen had actually set them both up. Danny and Michelle split, though each was now in love with the other, and Danny had the marriage annulled, convinced that Michelle wanted to turn him into someone he wasn't. (I.e. a law abiding citizen not so attatched to his murderous mother).

Despite the annulment, Danny and Michelle couldn't seem to stay away from each other. Michelle's brother, Rick, horrified that his little sister might end up married to the mob again, had her committed! Danny freed Michelle from the hospital and challenged Rick to stand in their way. Rick backed down and the pair prepared to marry for the third (but not last) time.

Recently, Farley celebrated the kickoff of his interesting and off-beat memoir, "Include Me Out." The party was at Jezebel's on 9th Avenue. He and his partner/co-author Bob Calhoun were also celebrating 45 years together. Julianne Moore dropped by to remind Bob that he had once hired her for the soap opera "As the World Turns."

Monday, March 26, 2007

GL CLASSIC MOMENT #57

Speak of the Grillos... Dinah (Wendy Moniz) thought she and Hart (Frank Grillo) were solid as could be. After all, once you've faked a man's death in order to drive his father/your husband (Roger) crazy, a girl figures that's as good as going steady.

Plus, there was the baby Dinah so tragically miscarried after Hart accidentally hit her in the stomach while opening a door. The one she'd named Laura, after Hart's dead mother. That should keep you together for the long haul. (Who cares if little Laura wasn't really Hart's? Dinah wanted her to be, that's what really matters).

So how, after all they'd been through, could Hart fall for that overly blond pole dancer, Cassie? And how could Cassie be the one to give Hart his first child, a son named Roger Joshua (after the father Dinah and Hart once tried to drive insane). Worst of all, how could Cassie be the one to find out about Laura's fictitious paternity?

It wasn't fair. If Cassie had only listened to Dinah's pleas to keep quiet, Dinah would have never needed to reach for the gun. Or to aim it at Cassie.

And then Hart wouldn't have walked in and gotten in the way of the bullet.

SFT's Liza came from good soap opera stock. She was a member of a core Henderson family, the granddaughter of everyone's beloved Stu Bergman.

Of course, being from a core family meant that Liza was destined to suffer more than her share of heartache and trauma -- and to go through more than a few faces, in the process.

One of Liza's earliest portrayers was Kathleen Beller, who would go on to greater, long-tressed fame in the 1980s as the unfortunately named Kirby Colby on Dynasty.

Meg Bennett -- Y&R's future Julia, multiple soap writer and Mrs. GHHeadwriter Bob Guza (above) -- stepped into the role in 1974, just in time for Liza to fall for Steve -- played by future watcher of Jennifer Beals' clever bra-removing in Flashdance, Michael Nouri (above). Steve was a musician. Steve was soulful. Steve was dreamy. Steve was dying of leukemia, not unlike Ali McGraw in Love Story. (The 70s were a big decade for blood cancer).

Liza and Travis -- who, in the early 1980s, mysteriously began sporting a perm not unlike a certain other hero on a certain other show on another network that had rocketed to #1 in the ratings (though probably in spite, not because of, the perm) -- found themselves traveling to exotic locations like Hong Kong to get kidnapped, blown up, and otherwise menaced. (The 80s were a big decade for on location mayhem).

Though Liza and Travis did manage to wed, Liza's infertility was a source of great sadness for them. They adopted a baby boy, Roger Lee, only to lose custody to his biological mother -- played by a pre-DOOL Patsy, now Patricia, Pease (ex-Kim).

Travis was killed in 1984, though Liza did manage to give birth to their son, Tourner. After Travis' death, Liza tried to adopt a teenage runaway, T.R. -- a pre-30 Rock Jane Krakowski-- unaware that the girl's real father was Lloyd, the man currently courting her. Liza liked Lloyd. Especially in comparison to one Kentucky Bluebird, who was working for her at Tourner Enterprises. Liza thought Kentucky was arrogant and infuriating. So certainly nothing could ever develop between them, right?

The series chronicles a bank robbery perpetrated by an Iraq war veteran (John Leguizamo) that turns into a hostage crisis. Donnie Wahlberg plays the police negotiator who tries to end the siege peacefully.

(Ed. note: Sounds like The Nine, to me, but perhaps this will be a completely different take on total strangers brought together by a robbery turned hostage crises.)

When last we saw Jennifer on ATWT, she'd died following her deathbed wedding to Dusty.

GL's Hart, on the other hand, died prior to marrying the love of his life, Cassie (who was pregnant with his baby, RJ). Hart was shot by Dinah, who, like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, has never taken rejection well. In real life, Grillo wed Wendy Moniz (ex-Dinah). Their son, Liam, was born in August 2004.

Friday, March 23, 2007

A.C. Mallet was Harley Cooper's instructor at the Springfield Police Academy. They fought, they bantered, they fell in love -- though both were particularly loathe to express the sentiment out loud.

But then, while investigating a murder, Harley got locked in a root cellar by the killer during a snowstorm. It was quite cold. Mallet came to her rescue, but Harley developed hypothermia and, delirious, blurted out that she loved him. What man could resist?

Missing Tom (Scott Holmes) and Margo (Ellen Dolan)? Have no fear! Oakdale's favorite legal/cop team will have their hands full this April dealing with son Casey (Zach Roerig) and his girlfriend, Maddie (Alexandra Chando), as the teens get themselves into more trouble than anyone thought possible!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Caitlin recently signed a three-year contract with the show, testifying to her character's popularity. Originally booked for only six episodes, Caitlin took Ashlee from merely a pathetic tool in Lizzie's schemes to a personality so appealing that the character warranted a mother -- D.A. Doris and, with Doris' marriage to Alan, a space in one of Springfield's core families!

Caitlin will be the first to point out that she isn't a typical daytime "type," i.e. thin as a runway model, but that she is a much better representative of the average American woman.

Even though soap operas in the past did tend to cast less glamorous women as their wholesome Middle American heroines, the genre was never particularly receptive to the plus-size female.

In 1975, Y&R (ironically the first show to adopt the all-beautiful-people-all-the-time-mantra) introduced the character of Joann Curtis (Kay Heberle), an unhappy housewife who put on weight due to problems in her marriage (her husband was played by Anthony Herrera who, a few years later in Oakdale, would show the world what a truly bad husband was like, as the habitually murderous James). Kay attempted to help Joann pull her life together and raise her self-esteem. But when the show began to hint at a lesbian relationship between the two, Joann was quickly shipped out of town and that was the end of that.

Over 20 years later, in a refreshing break from stereotype, DOOL offered Nancy (PatrikaDarbo), a full-figured woman who was also sexy, confident, manipulative, and the object of her husband's mad lust. Lest viewers panic at this image of a large gal whose personality wasn't defined by her size, DOOL also featured Susan, an overweight, shy, socially maladjusted teen the other kids called Gigantor.

Over on OLTL, the character of Marcy (Kathy Brier), like Ashlee, was an insecure, heavy girl being used by the show's resident teen vixen to do her dirty work. However, Marcy proved so popular, that the teen vixen is now six feet under, while Marcy has a husband (a reincarnation of her first love -- long story, another time), and an adorable son (who really belongs to someone else but, hey, that's daytime).

Nancy, Marcy and Ashlee's success with fans seems to suggest that viewers are starved for heroines who look more like themselves -- or even real-life women, in general.

Would you like to see more diversity of body types in soaps? Tell us in the Comments box below!

Rick (Michael O'Leary) and Mel's (Yvonna Wright) courtship was truncated when his quickly weakening heart -- with no possibility of a donor -- seemed poised to give out. They wed with the groom in a wheelchair (above) and waited for the inevitable.

But, then a miracle happened! A heart became available for transplant!

Unfortunately, the Bauers' joy came as a result of Cassie's tragedy. It was her husband, Richard, whose death made Rick's recovery possible. (Reva pulled the plug on her comatose ex-husband-turned-brother-in-law at his request, then stood trial for the mercy killing).

While in Oakdale, Tomei's Marcy had quite the rich, inner life herself. First, she fantasized that kindly Dr. Bob was in love with her (this, as you may imagine, did not go over well with Memorial's board of trustees). Later, her fantasies were more benign. Marcy imagined herself to be Cinderella, and ended up being serenaded by Jermaine Jackson and Whitney Houston in "real" life. Plus, by the time she left the show, Marcy was married to a Prince (well, a British Lord, close enough).

As for Annie Dutton's rich, inner life, it mostly consisted of a loop playing the message, "Must get rid of Reva," over and over again (I'm betting the pills she was hooked on didn't help). Annie was married to Josh and got herself artificially inseminated to hold on to him. Then, when she miscarried, Annie kept walking around with the dead fetus inside until she could frame Reva for pushing her down the stairs and killing the baby. When that didn't keep Josh and Reva apart for long (what ever does, really?), Annie took Reva up on a pilotless airplane... and left her there (Annie jumped out using the only parachute -- the nutty nurse was a lot of things, but a scaredy-cat wasn't one of them). For all her Wile E. Coyote efforts, Watros won the Daytime Emmy.

Since then, she's appeared on Titus, The Drew Carey Show, and Lost, among others. Will she and the former Marcy Thompson of Oakdale bring CBS's comedy line-up to rich, inner life?

Tune in and see!

(Pictured above: Watros with Ron Raines as Alan, and Tomei with Christian LeBlanc as Kirk)

Though Ann Shepard originated the role of Bertha "Bert" Miller Bauer on the radio, from 1950 to 1984, the part belonged inimitably to actress Charita Bauer.

She played her on the radio, she played her on television, she even asked that Bert's son, Michael, be named after Charita's own son, to make things easier.

When she died, there wasn't even a thought of recasting. Charita was Bert, Bert was Charita, and the GL audience needed a chance to mourn both.

Was Bert's passing GL's Greatest Moment ever? View it on CBS.com. And, btw, if you're wondering, that's Richard Van Vleet as Ed (in between his AMC Chuck stints), Ellen Dolan as Maureen (before she was ATWT's Margo) and John Bolger as the only adult Phillip who wasn't GrantAleksander (long before he was GH's Mayor).

As The World Turns will blur the line between reality and fantasy by offering fans the opportunity to win a visit from the fictional characters of Brad (Austin Peck) and Katie (Terri Colombino) and a cash prize $5000.

To enter Win a Day with Brad and Katie visit www.oakdalenow.com beginning on Thursday, March 29 to submit an original essay explaining why Brad and Katie should visit you in your hometown to perform one of your least favorite household chores. Entries must be received by 6:00 PM (ET) on April 12, 2007.

On As The World Turns, sparks fly on-screen and off between Oakdale Now talk show co-hosts, Brad Snyder and Katie Kasnoff. The two butt heads when Brad suggests a contest in which he and Katie visit a viewer's home to fulfill a household duty of the winner’s choosing. A reluctant Katie is forced to participate when their boss, Kim Hughes (Kathryn Hays), loves the idea.

“This is going to be tremendous fun,” said ATWT Executive Producer Christopher Goutman upon making the announcement. “Our viewers have been inviting As The World Turns into their living rooms for over 50 years. We are so excited to make this a two-way interaction for the very first time and to literally bring As The World Turns into a fan’s home.”

So put your thinking caps on, folks. What chores would you have Austin and Terri do for you? Laundry? Dishes? Bathroom? Maybe the yard needs a mowing or the roof some new shingles.

And then think about how much of your $5000 dollar prize you'll be willing to spend to fix the inevitable damage they'll do... (Just kidding!)

After suffering pneumonia and miscarrying her son, stalwart heroine Penny Hughes learned she'd never be able to have another child. She married Roy solely so she could be a mother to his little boy, Jimmy. When Jimmy was returned to his biological mother, Penny and Roy divorced and she left town. In England, Penny adopted a biracial Vietnamese daughter, Amy Lin.

Amy (Irene Yaah-Ling Sun) came to Oakdale in 1973 to stay with her Hughes grandparents, but the proper young lady felt out of place with American youth her own age and soon returned home.

Her final visit was in 1986, for Chris and Nancy's 50th wedding anniversary (and ATWT's 30th), when she was played by Una Kim.

It's interesting that, for all the social issues daytime deals with on a regular basis, international adoption has rarely been addressed. (Maybe it's because adoption stories on soaps tend to fall into two categories: the long-lost child popping up out of nowhere to torment the biological parent, and the biological parent popping up out of nowhere to take their baby back from the loving adoptive parents; both domestic adoption stories.)

The only show that I can think of tackling the issue was B&B with Kristen and Tony's adoption of Zende (AMC's Erica pretending that the kidnapped Maddie was a Russian orphan named Sonya doesn't count). Can you think of any others?

Nadine ran off to Hollywood seeking fame and fortune, only to discover that no one was interested in a bottle-blond floozy with no acting ability (this was before reality shows).

As poor and unhappy in California as she had been in Springfield, Nadine saw her chance at the big time when she heard that daughter Harley had wed gazillion-heir Alan-Michael Spaulding. Suddenly, Mama was back in town and Mama wanted her piece of the pie.

At least, that is, until a psycho named Brent Lawrence (who clearly identified with Anthony Perkins a bit more than is good for anyone) clobbered Nadine over the head and dumped her body in the Springfield River.

Harley mourned her mother. But then, when Harley got shot in the line of duty, fate gave them another chance....

(Norman) Lear, with a team that included soap writer Ann Marcus and director Gail Parent, directed his humor at the most drawn-out and air-filled of TV formats, the soap. Mary Hartman's issues -- how consumer culture can hammer us into passivity, how a loveless marriage can drive even a good girl to adultery -- were too all-encompassing to be resolved at the end of every episode; they had to stretch on from day to day, without a climax, in the manner of "One Life to Live." When Louise Lasser quit "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" from exhaustion in 1977 after 18 months, an astounding 325 episodes had aired.

Wow. 325 episodes. That's, what? about 2 percent of the 15,000 benchmark GL celebrated this summer? And 18 months? That's a whopping 3 percent of the 50-plus years ATWT (and actress Helen Wagner) have been on the air. How DO those poor, exhausted primetime actors manage...

Friday, March 16, 2007

GL: THE FACE OF WEDDED BLISS

As if Guiding Light's Alan Spaulding (Ron Raines) doesn't have enough to worry about, what with that bullet wedged in his chest and the knowledge that anyone in town could have -- or at least wanted -- to do it. But now he's got to deal with the ministrations of his "loving" wife (OrlaghCassidy).

Is everyone's favorite billionaire going to put up (lay down) with it? (Does he look happy?) Tune into GL next week and find out!

He was Sierra's ex-husband, a man so slimy he made Craig look like the good guy (!) in that particular triangle and, in real life, he married Susan Marie Snyder (ex-Julie; ATWT - they're now divorced), but, these days, actor Peter Boynton is passing on his 20 years of acting experience to children in Vermont.

To read all about his summer workshop programs in musical theater, click here!

In 1993, when teen-age Bridget (Melissa Hayden) found herself pregnant by Hart -- who loved someone else, then left town anyway -- she was in quite a jam.

Fortunately, Harley and Frank's mom, Nadine, had a... unique... solution. Desperate for a baby that she believed would strengthen her marriage to Billy, Nadine suggested she pretend to be pregnant, then pass Bridget's child off as her own. Since this is a soap staple that has never, ever backfired on anyone in daytime, Bridget agreed.

Of course, in order for the plan to work, Bridget's pregnancy would have to be hidden. Not to fear, Nadine had another brilliant idea. While she walked around town with a pillow stuffed under her dress, Bridget would pretend to be off on a school trip to Appalachia. In reality, Bridget would really be hidden in Nadine's attic.

Bridget went along with Nadine's scam because she swore she didn't want to have a baby. But, alone in the attic, Bridget let her true feelings for the child she was carrying come out.

Was Bridget singing to her unborn child GL's Greatest Moment ever? Watch it and vote on CBS.com!

"I learned how to be comfortable in front of a camera. I was quite sure for the first eight months that the boom mike was picking up my heartbeat," he says. "And there were some great actors there. Steven Weber had just left. Meg Ryan had just left. I had scenes with Julianne Moore. People were doing great work there."

To find out where Meg's ex-husband/cousin and Lily's biological father is now, click here!